Environmental condition monitoring of a container

• US 20070267509A1
• Filed: 05/18/2006
• Published: 11/22/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 05/18/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: XRS Corporation (Solera Holdings Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: XRS Corporation (Solera Holdings Incorporated)
• Inventors: Witty, Eric J., Thayer, Peter A., Quy, Dennis A., Landrum, Brett A.
• Granted Patent: US 7,784,707 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 236/51
• CPC Class Codes: G01D 9/007 Data loggers attached to transport containers for perishable products, e.g. food or medicines

Abstract

In an embodiment, the invention is directed to a device comprising an environmental condition sensor, a light sensor; and a control module, wherein the control module associates a light intensity above a defined threshold with an open-door status of a container. In another embodiment, a device comprises an environmental condition sensor, a rewriteable memory that stores environmental condition data from the environmental condition sensor, and a wireless communication module that transmits stored environmental condition data. Embodiments of the invention may be useful to provide techniques for monitoring environmental conditions within a container, such as a refrigerated trailer.

Claims

1. A device comprising:

an environmental condition sensor;

a rewriteable memory that stores environmental condition data from the environmental condition sensor; and

a wireless communication module that transmits stored environmental condition data.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein the wireless communication module includes an external antenna.

3. The device of claim 1, further comprising:

a housing securing the environmental condition sensor and the rewriteable memory; and

an adhesive on an external side of the housing that allows the device to be mounted on an object.

4. The device of claim 1, further comprising a light sensor, wherein the rewriteable memory stores data from the light sensor.

5. The device of claim 1, wherein the environmental condition sensor measures temperature.

6. The device of claim 1, further comprising a battery that powers the device.

7. The device of claim 1, further comprising a control module that controls the device.

8. The device of claim 7, further comprising a light sensor,

wherein the control module reads a current temperature from the environmental condition sensor and a current light condition from the light sensor at periodic intervals, and

at periodic intervals in which at least one of the current temperature and the current light condition changes since a most-recent previous reading, the control module data records the current temperature and the current light condition as the environmental condition data in the rewriteable memory.

9. The device of claim 8, wherein the control module records the current temperature by storing a change in temperature since a most-recent previously recorded temperature.

10. The device of claim 8, wherein the control module determines if a network access point is available and transmits the environmental condition data to the network access point.

11. The device of claim 8, wherein the current temperature readings and the current light condition readings are taken at substantially the same time for each of the periodic intervals.

12. The device of claim 1, wherein the device transmits a unique identifier to allow identification of the device.

13. The device of claim 1, wherein the wireless communication module transmits data using a ZigBee wireless standard.

14. A device comprising:

an environmental condition sensor;

a light sensor; and

a control module, wherein the control module associates a light intensity above a defined threshold with an open-door status of a container.

15. The device of claim 14, wherein the container is a refrigerated trailer.

16. The device of claim 14, wherein the environmental condition sensor measures temperature.

17. The device of claim 16, further comprising a wireless communication module that transmits temperature measurements from the environmental condition sensor measures temperature and a door status of the container, wherein the door status of the container can be either the open-door status or a closed-door status.

18. The device of claim 14, further comprising a rewriteable memory that stores historical door status and environmental condition data.

19. A method comprising:

measuring an internal temperature within a container;

detecting a presence of light within the container; and

associating the presence of light with an open door of the container.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising storing the measured internal temperature and an indicator of the presence of light within a rewriteable memory.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the indicator of the presence of light is a door status of the container, wherein the door status of the container can be either an open-door status or a closed-door status.

22. The method of claim 20, further comprising:

periodically measuring the internal temperature within the container to produce periodic measurements of the internal temperature;

simultaneously determining a door status of the container to produce periodic door status indications; and

storing the periodic measurements of the internal temperature and the periodic door status indications in memory.

23. The method of claim 19, further comprising sending the measured internal temperature and the indicator of the light intensity to a computer via a network.

24. The method of claim 19, further comprising wirelessly transmitting the measured internal temperature and the indicator of the light intensity to a network access point.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein wirelessly transmitting the measured internal temperature and the indicator of the light intensity to the network access point comprises transmitting data using a ZigBee wireless standard.

26. The method of claim 24,

wherein wirelessly transmitting the measured internal temperature and the indicator of the light intensity to the network access point comprises wirelessly transmitting the measured internal temperature and the indicator of the light intensity to a device,

wherein the device forwards the measured internal temperature and the indicator of the light intensity by wireless transmission to the network access point.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein the device is an environmental condition monitor.

28. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

determining a device is in range to allow a first wireless transmission to the device;

determining that a network access point is in range of the device to allow a second wireless transmission from the device to the network access point; and

wirelessly transmitting the measured internal temperature and the indicator of the light intensity to the device, wherein the device forwards the measured internal temperature and the indicator of the light intensity to the network access point.

29. The method of claim 28, further comprising determining that sending the measured internal temperature and the indicator of the light intensity to the network access point via the device would conserve power as compared to sending the measured internal temperature and the indicator of the light intensity to the network access point directly.

30. The method of claim 19, wherein detecting a presence of light within the container comprises detecting a light intensity within the container above a defined threshold.